"Hey Kids, Have You Ever Heard of The United States of America?"

"Hey Kids, Have You Ever Heard of The United States of America?" - quote by Andrew Fecik, directed towards little, Scottish boys.

^Today while we were working in the lab, 3 little Scottish boys walked through the open door and were amazed by our plastic projects. Andrew then asked them that famous quoted question and we all died of laughter. He asked them as if they were either hard of hearing or slow. They thought our accent was funny sounding. Hahaha.

Today was much more successful than yesterday. Deanna and I finally thought of an idea and went with it. It is -hopefully - going to be very neat. Im going to try and add some pictures of it on here. Mind you... we only started it today.

We had grilled cheese for dinner tonight..... MMMMM!!! =] It was very yummy. Grilled cheese and tomato soup. =] We stop at TESCO (Scotland's Walmart) just about everyday. hahaha. We are all so sick of it.

Today was a long day. I'm going to try to load some pictures. Thanks for following and I miss you all! Thanks for all the inspiration yesterday, I think it's paying off!!!

Goodnight

-Natalie

- the beginning of our project. It is about a 21/2 foot face made from all clear plastic

- this picture here is of the chin, nose, and the start of the forehead.

Gahhhh

Today was pretty rough. We started the day in the lab and I was feeling very optimistic. I was ready to hit the ground running on my project. Not too long into it, I looked at Deanna and was like "Okay... NEW PROJECT!" I had like an awesome idea... or so I thought. I was feeling soooo creative and artistic. We started working and hit a block. We then both went brain dead after trying about 10 different approaches to our idea. ugghhhh.. it turned out to be a bad creative day. boo.

Anyway, we got back to the house and Christiana and Joe came over and they taught us a super fun card game. It's called golf. Anyway, if you know me, you know I'm bad at card games... and I CAME IN 3RD!! wooo!!! =] It was really fun tho. Everyone in this house definitely laughs sooo much.

Well, I had a long long day ahead of me tomorrow and I need to be on my game and start this project. Hopefully what we come up with is pure brilliance!.... Cross your fingers!!

Thanks for following and I miss you all!!!

1 week and 1 day down.... that's so crazy!!!

- It's dinnertime in Pa... so enjoy your dinner!! haha.
Natalie

p.s. HAPPY BIRTHDAY (yesterday) DEB!!!! MISS YA GIRL!!

p.s.s. love you mom! =] - your comments on facebook made me laugh

p.s.s.s Dad - I'm glad to see you got your account to work!!! love you too!

- and for those who are going to complain... i love you too.

Highland Games!!!

<--video of girls at the Highland Games Dancing Competition

So since I was too tired yesterday to write, I have to blog about it now. We woke up early to leave the house by 8am and drive 2 hours to Glasgow. The ride there was pretty awful.... a lot of us got tummy aches from the ride. Once we got to Glasgow, we met up with Christiana(Perth Professor) and her husband Joe(who is hilarious). They then took us to an art museum and then took a bus to the Highland Games. It was a double decker!!! =] So much fun!!

The Highland Games were different but yet the same as I expected them to be. It was almost like a carnival with the food tents and ride for kids. Then in the middle was the field where all the activities took place. I was really upset because the activity I was most excited for was the Tossing of the Cabers. My boyfriend, Brad, was watching an episode on the travel channel about them. The trick to the sport is that the men competing have to throw ginormous logs as straight as they can. If they can not pick them, they have to continue to cut them down until they can pick it up and toss them. Whoever is the first to pick it up successfully wins. Although, if there is a tie, the person who tossed it the straightest wins. Interesting, huh? hahaa

We then went into town where shopping is huge there. I felt like everyone that lives in Scotland must be from Glasgow, because we have never seen so many people until then. I am upset because I haven't seen any good places to souvenir shops and we FINALLY found the best store yesterday and it was closed!!!! It was only 6pm on a Saturday! How lame is that?? Grrrr

Anyway, today is another relaxing day. Nothing set to do so we are just hanging around the house. I loaded some pictures on facebook for everyone to see. I load a few everyday because the internet is slow here.

I hope everything is going well back and home and I miss you all! Can't wait to tell everyone about the stories.

Thanks for following.... write a comment!!! =]

Good day!

-Natalie

^^^ These pics are Emily Kuzar's! Haha. I didnt feel like uploading my own. Thanks Em!

IM TIRED

IM TOO TIRED, IM WRITING ONE TOMORROW. GOODNIGHT.

Whoa!! A Huge Connect Four!!!!!

To start off the blog today, I would like to say that we are currently playing with this huge connect four exactly like the picture to the left. hahaha. We are all acting like little kids and getting so excited. You should have seen our faces when Andrew dug it out of the closet and brought it to the family room. It was like we hit the jackpot of all games. hahaa. Its about 4x4 feet. AWESOME!!

Today we started our projects... Deanna and I are doing a joint project and it's coming along quite well.... for now. =] I will try to post pictures but it will not be understandable until completely finished and done exactly correct. Pressure is on!!! It is going to be quite the challenge.... for sure. Bring it on!!! =]

Oh!!! Yesterday, Emily and Jill found a nice hand dryer in one of the bathrooms.... we discovered that it works perfectly as a hair dryer!!!! We now do not need to buy any Scottish hairdryer. Good job girls!!!! - used it tonight and I'm lookin' quite "fresh" hahaha. ( "fresh" is one of the words in our slang cards game Erin brought. Everyday we pick a card and we have to use it at least once a day. so funny. today was "lates", used like "later guys!". the other day it was "what it do?", used like "what's up?". hahhaa. it keeps our days that much more interesting)

There really isn't much to write about today. This trip is so much fun. We all get along really well and half the things that come out our mouths just keep us laughing all day long. Our Scottish accents are getting so good that we catch each other saying things like the Scots now. haha. The people here are so insanely nice. Last night we went to our first Scottish pub and afterwards was invited to one of the nicest Hiltons I have ever been to by the professors at Perth College. We then sat around and drank wine while having some of the most interesting conversations. Just learning about their culture here and anything else they talk about is so nice. It's funny to think that not everyone does things the same way as America. But, like I said.... the people are sooo nice!!! Always generous and they have the same humor as everyone on this trip. That always keeps us laughing... I can't tell you how many times my stomach has hurt from laughing so hard and long.

One thing I love here more than the US is their easy - to - understand street signs. It's funny b/c Ally and I were discussing in the van about what they remind us of. It feels like someone took Tonka car street signs and just dropped them right here in Scotland. They are HUGE easy-to-read signs. To make it more funny - the cars here are tiny! I honestly think the biggest family possible would have to be like 2 kids. hahaha. Funny to see the tiny cars against the huge street signs.

Another interesting fact is that NO ONE here has crappy cars. I KID YOU NOT!!!! There is not one junker on the roads. .... well besides our 14 person van... who also happens to be a padiddle. Great.... there are 10 dorky tourist Americans, driving a crappy padiddle van. haha. We don't attract any attention to ourselves.

Well.... that's enough chatter for one day. Thanks for following and I miss you all!!!!

HIGHLAND GAMES ARE TOMORROW!!!!! I AM SO EXTREMELY EXCITED!!!!

- Good day!!

Natalie

P.S. we saw two more kilts today...... in a HARDWARE STORE!!! hahaha. how funny!

Another Sunny Day In Good Ol' Scotland

Hey guys! Early post today. We just got home from out first lab day. It was quite the success. We collected garbage from around the college today and actually finally found stuff. Haha. It is very hard to actually find stuff around here.... very clean. Not much to write about today, it was another relaxing day. Besides cleaning up garbage and sorting it out, we all figured out what our project will be for the next 2 or so weeks. I think I will let that be a surprise. Anyway... I'm pretty sure it would be difficult to explain via blog because most of you always look at me weird when I even explain to you in person.

Instead of intense writing, I am going to try to post some pictures.

Thanks for following!! I miss you all!!!!!

-Natalie

-p.s. i'm going to my first Scottish Pub tonight!!! woooo. I'll drink one for you Juls!!

There's A Midge In My Mouth!!!!

Today was soooo much fun!!! First of all, we got to sleep in today, haha and if you really know me.... you know I love to sleep! Haha. So, half the group went shopping today and the rest of us girls stayed back at the house and hung out. Let me tell you, we spent some great quality time together! - First we wanted to have a rave and so we searched for some good scottish cd's in the house. We were disappointed to find only two cds. One Madonna and The Magnets. Obviously the Madonna cd was a no, b/c that was all too familiar. We put in The Magnets and had A BALL! hahaa. We found a track called "No Matter What" and dressed up and took a video. HILARIOUS! We laughed sooo hard.

http://themagnets.com/

After we sweat our butts off... we decided to try and find the local waterfall. BIG MISTAKE! hahha. we hiked for I don't even know how long.... uphill!! Oh.... and no waterfall was found. haha. But we for sure had a great time laughing, gossiping, and getting lost together.

At night, a bunch of the professors from Perth College came to our place and gave us a huge cookout. It was like Christmas for us.. for real. haha. We have been dining on PB & J sandwiches, so it was a good change. haha. Although, there are these little gnat bugs here called Midges. They are very annoying. haha. That will explain the title of my blog. I said that and we all giggled about it for a good while.

It's about 10:30 here now and of course, like all the other blogs... I'm sleepy. Hope you enjoyed the blog! Miss you all!!! /span>

-i keep asking locals a sweet "goodbye" phrase..... so far there are none. =[

BUMMER!

Goodnight!!

-Natalie

P.s. HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRIDGET BOHONEK!! I'm sorry I'm not there to tell you in person! Miss ya little Chester! hahaha

<--- one of the pictures I took when we got lost on our way to find the so called waterfall. haha

<-- Coryn, Deanna, and I on the trail to the "waterfall" haha